Opinion: Hamas violence forcing Israel to defend itself

MONTREAL — Around the world, newscasts have spent the greater part of the past week airing shocking footage of dead civilians and gutted buildings in both Israel and Gaza. We have all been riveted by images of parents and children running from shelling and rocket fire. It all seems to be agonizingly symmetrical, with pain and suffering on both sides of the conflict.

But while suffering is of course universal, the symmetry that has been played over again and again is only an illusion. A closer examination of the facts paints a different picture, one that is far from symmetrical.

Since the beginning of 2012, more than 1,600 rockets have been launched by Hamas and other terrorists in Gaza on Israel’s civilian population. These incessant attacks have made it necessary for my country to act swiftly and decisively to safeguard the lives of millions of our citizens who have lived in fear for far too long.

In places like Sderot, a city I called home for a brief period in 2008-09, residents have all of 15 seconds to take cover from rocket and mortar fire.

As you are reading this, Israel is surgically striking at carefully picked military targets in order to avoid hitting innocent civilians. Hamas, on the other hand, is firing purposely at anything and everything it can point its missiles at.

From Beersheba to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and beyond, 4.5 million of my country’s citizens — more than half the population of Israel — have been urged to take cover in shelters at the sounding of the code-red siren. In Gaza, where Hamas fires rockets and missiles from densely populated areas and public buildings including schools and mosques, civilians are used to shield terrorists from Israeli fire.

Sadly, as in the past, civilians on both sides will find themselves in the crossfire. That is the brutal reality of such operations — a reality that we have sought to avoid while restraining our right to self-defence for so long.

While many will undoubtedly point to a lack of proportionality in the death toll, they should be reminded that Israel goes through extraordinary measures to protect each and every one of our civilians. That is why we have invested so heavily in bomb shelters in nearly every home, a nationwide network of air-raid sirens and the Iron Dome missile defence system that has successfully intercepted nearly half of the missiles launched in our direction. In Gaza, Hamas’s limited resources have been spent on indoctrinating youth with anti-Semitic textbooks and building a sophisticated network of tunnels used to smuggle Iranian-made long-range missiles under the Egyptian border.

This week, as in 2008-09 during Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Defense Forces have dropped thousands of leaflets and phoned more than 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza to warn them of forthcoming operations targeting terrorists. No call from Hamas has ever been made to a single Israeli household warning of impending rocket attacks.

When civilians are injured or, even worse, killed, Israel is profoundly sorry and investigations are conducted in order to assess any foul play on the part of our soldiers. On the other side, Israeli deaths, and even Palestinian ones, are celebrated by Hamas as military and propaganda victories.

In 2005, Israel withdrew its military and civilian presence from Gaza in the hope that the Palestinians would use our gesture as an act of good faith. Our wish then was, and remains today, clear: to live in peace and quiet with our neighbours.

Seven years later, our settlers and soldiers are long gone and we have no claims on Gaza. Hamas’s intentions, however, are diametrically opposed and bluntly stated in its charter, which calls for the destruction of Israel and the slaughter of its Jews.

As rockets rain down from our skies, Israel continues to supply electricity, medical supplies, food and water to Gaza. Wounded Palestinians, including terrorists, are even being treated in our hospitals. Is that not proof enough of our humanity?

For Israel, diplomacy has always been the preferred method of solving disputes, and armed confrontation a last resort based on the principle of self-defence. Our treaties with both Egypt and Jordan, as well as our withdrawal from Gaza, are proof of Israel’s long-standing desire for peace and the painful sacrifices we are prepared to make in order to see that dream come to fruition.

Sadly, peace will remain elusive as long as Hamas continues to opt for violence, and abuses Palestinians and Israelis alike.

Joel Lion is consul general of Israel to Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.

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